The 14th Annual 5th Avenue Awards Honoring High School Musical Theater are Announced!

Excited high school students, educators and supportive friends and family members packed McCaw Hall to celebrate The 14th Annual 5th Avenue Awards Honoring High School Musical Theater. The highly anticipated event, directed by Kat Ramsburg, handed out awards in 21 categories ranging from Outstanding Overall Musical Production to Outstanding Lobby Display. The crowd eagerly cheered for Washington's finest teenage performers as awards were accepted, local celebrity presenters spoke and nominated students performed musical excerpts from their acclaimed shows. This Tony Awards style program hosted by The 5th Avenue Theatre is proudly sponsored by Wells Fargo with additional support from Alaska Airlines and The Boeing Company.

"The High School Awards is always an exciting night," said Wells Fargo Senior Vice President of Community Affairs, Mark Dederer. "It is events like this that celebrate arts, education and students that bring a special energy to the theater and to the participating schools. The student performances are always electrifying and Wells Fargo is honored to support this event and wish congratulations to all the nominees and recipients."

A total of 95 schools were represented at this years' 5th Avenue Awards. Kentridge High School received the award for Outstanding Musical Production for their production Hairspray.

The highly coveted awards of Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role were awarded to Camas High School studentBrooke Moltrum and Clarkston High School student Ethan Smith. Both talented young students will travel to the National High School Musical Theater Awards in New York City at the end of June.

Edmonds Heights K-12 took home the award for Outstanding Direction (Urinetown), Timberline High School received the award for Outstanding Music Direction (Cabaret and Woodinville High School brought home the award for Outstanding Choreography (Chicago).

29 special honors are awarded for extraordinary student achievement and schools who use their productions to create an educational impact beyond the stage. A much-deserved acknowledgement forLifetime Achievement was given to retiring educator, Laurie Levine of Kamiak High School, whose influence is reflected in the multitude of theater professionals who began their paths in her classroom. The Special Honor of Outstanding Educator was awarded to Heidi Oveson, at Ingraham High School.

The program, which Producing Artistic Director Bill Berry created in 2003, has grown in size and scope from 24 productions and 3,100 students to 116 productions with more than 10,000 students participating this year. For the 2015/16 High School theater season, 165 nominations and 161 honorable mentions were given in various categories. Each year, schools from across Washington State submit their musicals for consideration by The 5th Avenue Awards Committee. Local theater professionals are selected by The 5th as evaluators to travel to cities as far away as Spokane, Clarkston, Sequim and Vancouver, seeking the best actors, actresses, directors and designers to represent their schools in this hotly anticipated annual event.

The 5th could not maintain and continue a program as extensive as this one without the generous support of Wells Fargo, the long standing sponsor of The 5th Avenue Awards for the past 12 years. Wells Fargo invested $3.5 million in nonprofits and schools across Washington and team members logged 31,000 volunteer hours in 2015. Wells Fargo has 3,700 team members in Washington who serve customers through a network of 234 banking, mortgage and investment offices and 229 ATMs in 83 communities across the state.

The 5th would also like to thank Alaska Airlines, whose support makes it possible to send the recipients of the "Outstanding Actor" and "Outstanding Actress" awards to New York to participate in the National High School Musical Theater Awards following the awards ceremony at McCaw Hall. Alaska Airlines is the sixth-largest U.S. airline based on passenger traffic and is one of the most popular U.S. West Coast air carriers. Headquartered in Seattle, Alaska carries more passengers between the state of Alaska and the lower 48 than any other airline. Alaska Airlines invested $12M in over 600 non-profits and community organizations in 2015 and its employees volunteered 47,000 hours in 2015.

Over the years, many schools have reported back to The 5th Avenue that their involvement in this awards program has significantly helped their individual efforts to secure funding, improve curriculum, and increase student participation.

2016 5th Avenue Award Recipients

Outstanding Overall Musical

Kentridge High School, Hairspray

Outstanding Direction

Edmonds Heights K-12, Urinetown

Outstanding Music Direction

Timberline High School, Cabaret

Outstanding Choreography

Woodinville High School, Chicago

Outstanding Orchestra

Woodinville High School, Chicago

Outstanding Scenic Design

Timberline High School, Miss Saigon

Outstanding Lighting Design

University High School, Evita

Outstanding Costume Design

Mount Si High School, Once Upon a Mattress

Outstanding Hair and Makeup Design

Hanford High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Outstanding Stage Crew

Arlington High School, Pippin

Outstanding Lobby Display

Cashmere High School, Rodgers and Hammerstein's

Cinderella

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Brooke Moltrum as Fiona,

Camas High School, Brigadoon

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Ethan Smith as Edward Bloom,

Clarkston High School, Big Fish

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Emma Sorensen as Alice,

Capital High School, The Addams Family

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Blayne Shamarin as Cookie McGee,

Ingraham High School, Nice Work If You Can Get It

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Featured Ensemble Role

Catherine Garcia as Jean McLaren,

Camas High School, Brigadoon

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Featured Ensemble Role

Kameron Bustetter as Lucas Beineke,

Capital High School, The Addams Family

Outstanding Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Non-Singing Role

Hailey Hughes as Ms. Darbus,

Ridgefield High School, Disney's High School

Musical

Outstanding Performance by a Chorus

Lewis and Clark High School, How to Succeed in Business

Without Really Trying

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Group

The Rebels, Hanford High School, Urinetown

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast

Redmond High School, Rent

Special Honors: Educational Impact
Blaine High School, Rising Ashes: The Hans J. Massaquoi Story
Cashmere High School, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Marysville Pilchuck High School, Disney's The Little Mermaid
The Overlake School, Annie
Stadium High School, Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Sunnyside High School, Seussical

Special Honors: Student Achievement
AC Davis High School, Lydia Trujillo
Blaine High School, Sajeon Koebel
Camas High School, Elizabeth Cook
Capital High School, Chloe Meyer
Cashmere High School, Talen Schoening
Decatur High School, Chase Alm
Edmonds Heights K 12, Isabelle Smith
Hanford High School, Zachary Harper
Hoquiam High School, Kennedy Gwin
Ingraham High School, Drea Gordon
Kamiak High School, Andrew Baron
Lewis and Clark High School, Emma Lyons
Marysville Pilchuck High School, Isaac Honeyman
Meadowdale High School, Hwa Youn Kang
Mount Baker High School, Alex Kelly
Omak High School, Nichole Fahey
Overlake School, Kate McConnell
Seattle Academy of Arts & Sciences, Noah Sarkowsky
Thomas Jefferson High School, Matthew Bosley and Caitlin Perkins
Timberline High School, Alex Jones
Tumwater High School, Zack Kostechka

Special Honor: Outstanding Educator
Heidi Oveson, Ingraham High School

Special Honor: Outstanding Parent Support
Thomas Jefferson High School

Special Honor: The Spirit of Community
Burlington-Edison High School, LES MISERABLES School Edition

Special Honors: Lifetime Achievement
Laurie Levine, Kamiak High School

About The 5th Avenue Theatre

The non-profit 5th Avenue Theatre is acclaimed as one of the nation's leading musical theater companies and is especially renowned for its production and development of new works. Since 2001, the Seattle-based company has produced 17 new musicals. To date, nine (including the sensational hit Disney's Aladdin) have moved on to Broadway premieres, earning a combined 15 Tony Awards, including two for Best Musical (Hairspray and Memphis). The 5th Avenue Theatre is also known for its world class, critically acclaimed productions of musicals chosen from both the contemporary canon and the Golden Age of Broadway.

Unique in its Chinese-inspired design, this exquisite theater opened in 1926 as a venue for vaudeville and film. Today, under the leadership of Executive Producer and Artistic Director David Armstrong, Managing Director Bernadine C. Griffin and Producing Artistic Director Bill Berry, this non-profit theater company attracts an annual attendance of more than 300,000, including over 25,000 subscribers - one of the largest theater subscriptions in North America.

In addition to its main stage productions, The 5th Avenue Theatre is also committed to encouraging the next generation of theatergoers through its extensive educational outreach programs. For more information about The 5th Avenue Theatre, its season and its programs, please visit www.5thavenue.org.

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